David Slade Is Part Of The American Gods TV Team

Hannibal reunion klaxon!

We might be mourning the passing of the stylish, ghoulish occasionally crazy Hannibal TV series, but there’s good news if you were fans of the smart, dark look of the show. Director David Slade, the man partly responsible for that quality, is joining old collaborator Bryan Fuller on the TV adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods. 

Naturally, Slade and Fuller will be crafting an entirely new palette for Gods, but if it’s anything close as impressive as what Hannibal managed on American network TV, imagine the possibilities for this new project on cable channel Starz. 

EXCITING NEWS, #FANNIBALS! @DAVID_A_SLADE IS DIRECTING @AmericanGodsSTZ @neilhimself @andmichaelgreen @FMNATV http://pic.twitter.com/kyVlKmwn7k

— Bryan Fuller (@BryanFuller) September 10, 2015

Gaiman's novel, first published in 2001, and again in an expanded edition in 2005, involves old gods and mythological creatures from various Old World pantheons (Low Key Lyesmith, Mr. Nancy, Mr. Jacquel), brought to the US by the immigrants who founded it. But their powers are waning as people's beliefs shift to modern worships like media and technology. When our hero, Shadow, is released from prison, he takes up with the mysterious Mr. Wednesday on an odyssey across America recruiting old gods for a war against the new. 

During the journey, Shadow learns some interesting facts about his heritage, and faces down a child-killer. Characters from Sandman crop up occasionally, and the whole thing feels like a tour through forgotten corners of Americana as well as the mythology of, well, the entire world. The novel's companion piece Anansi Boys came out in 2005, and a follow-up story, Monarch Of The Glen, is in Gaiman's Fragile Things collection.

Slade will act as main director and an executive producer on the show alongside Fuller, Michael Green, and Gaiman himself, who likewise welcomed the new member to the team. 

Via the magic of ScheduledTweets, let me welcome genius director @David_A_Slade to the @AmericanGodsSTZ family. Fan of his since HARD CANDY.

— Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) September 10, 2015

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The Final Divergent Film Has Been Renamed

Allegiant – Part 2 becomes Ascendant

The Divergent films might not generate quite the same excitement as the Twilight and Hunger Games franchises that it has followed, but they've been enough of a success to keep the movies coming. The final two entries, both adapted from Veronica Roth’s third novel, Allegiant, are undergoing a new split – they’ll now be called The Divergent Series: Allegiant and The Divergent Series: Ascendant.

Word comes from MTV News, which also premiered the new logos for the two films, shown above. The movies continue the story of the divergents, led by Shailene Woodley’s Beatrice “Tris” Prior. For those who haven’t been following – and there are potential spoilers if not – the second film, Insurgent, left Tris and fellow freedom fighter/love interest Four (Theo James) discovering that their little corner of the world (a ruined, dystopian Chicago, home to various factions) wasn’t the last vestige of civilization, but actually an experiment to see if divergents could be created that might help save the rest of the world. Apparently. Somehow. It all has to do with original thinking. 

Allegiant carries the tagline “Break the boundaries of your world”, which makes sense since Tris, Four and their fellow divergents will be headed beyond the wall around their city. As for Ascendant, that has “The end is never what you expect”, which could be a crafty reference to changes many outraged fans of the book wish could be made in the film. We’ll say no more about that.

With Robert Schwentke directing both entries and Miles Teller, Zoe Kravitz, Ansel Elgort, Naomi Watts, Maggie Q and new arrival Jeff Daniels in the cast, expect The Divergent Series: Allegiant on March 18 next year. Ascendant follows on March 24, 2017. 

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Elizabeth Olsen Talks Captain America: Civil War

''It's allowed to be darker...''

With principal photography having wrapped a few weeks ago, there are no location shots from which to glean information about Captain America: Civil War, so the wider world has to rely on the actors talking about the movie. One such thesp is Elizabeth Olsen, who plays Wanda "Scarlet Witch" Maximoff in the movie and sat down with French film magazine Premiere to talk about her upcoming films and let slip some details and opinions.

"I think it's going to be the best one," she says of the film in a video interview. "I am very excited to see it myself — I only worked on set for five weeks, so I wasn't there for the majority of it. Daniel Brühl is an incredible actor and he's playing the main villain in it, and he's incredible." 

Yes, she did just confirm what we pretty much already knew, even if she didn’t use his yet-to-be-confirmed character name: Brühl’s Baron Zemo, a Hydra type usually found in the comics trying to make the world a better place through, er, establish a new Nazi regime, is the main threat in the movie. You know, aside from the disagreement over how much leeway to give superhero teams that sparks a clash between our heroes.

As for the tone of the thing? "Civil War" as a phrase doesn’t lend itself to sunshine and puppies, so you can expect more danger for the main characters. "It's a movie about people, as opposed to robots this time," Olsen continued. "So it's darker and it's allowed to be darker because it gets more in the mindset of humans rather than machines." Somewhere, Ultron is looking sad and muttering, “really? Low blow.” 

Captain America: Civil War is out here on April 29 next year. To load up your mind-file on all you need to know, take yourself hence to our info-dump. 

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Empire Adds Vivica A. Fox as Cookie's Sister

Get ready to meet Cookie's sister on Fox's Empire.

Vivica A. Fox is joining the hip-hop drama in its second season as the older sister of Cookie Lyon (Taraji P. Henson), TVGuide.com has confirmed. She arrives in town seeking help from Cookie, according to TheWrap, which first reported the news.

At the

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Stephen Colbert: We Almost Didn't Go On the Air Tuesday

The 6.6 million viewers who tuned into the premiere of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Tuesday almost saw a blank screen.

During his opening monologue on Wednesday's episode, Stephen Colbert told the audience that technical glitches and last-minute editing almost prevented Tuesday's episode from

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J.K. Rowling Says We've Been Pronouncing Voldemort Wrong This Whole Time

You've probably been mispronouncing He Who Must Not Be Named's name incorrectly all along.

On Tuesday, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling confirmed that the T is silent in the moniker of the series' chief villain, Lord Voldemort. That's right - it's actually pronounced Vol-duh-MORE. How French.

We'll

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Donald Trump on Rival Carly Fiorina: "Would Anyone Vote for That Face?"

Donald Trump's presidential campaign strategy appears to be: Open mouth, insert foot.

Trump's latest verbal faux pas comes in an interview with Rolling Stone, in reference to his GOP presidential rival Carly Fiorina.

Watching a televised interview with Fiorina, "Trump's expression sour[ed] in

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